The Witzard

Split EP by Hacked Nudes / Man Bites Dog Hacked Nudes / Man Bites Dog 's Split EP is Illinois -based DIY label In The Lake Records (@itl_recs) ' 13th release. It was released earlier today, September 13th, at 1:00pm AKA 13:00 Central Daylight Time. Hacked Nudes is a self-professed Post-Punk/Reggae three-piece hailing from the Northern suburbs of Chicago with a particular affiliation to Berserk/Dark Circles/In The Lake Records . It appears as though Berserk Records was a functioning label from about 2012-16 and that's, actually, where two-thirds of Hacked Nudes met; In The Lake Records founder and bassist Pete met guitarist/vocalist John E. Swan III of polynerve —a newly-minted small press and cassette label—while the two were working together at Berserk Records and around 2016, Berserk morphed into ITL Records . The Witzard regulars, at this point, might be familiar with John Swan (@midwest_stress) from his monthly column, Various Artists: How Compilations ...

A Common Wonder - The Sixth Superstition by A Common Wonder " Stevie Wonder 's early use of synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers, in a lot of ways, paved the way for Hip-Hop and sampling. Part of my motivation for this project was to highlight those contributions," Nashville -based producer Amerigo Gazaway proclaimed within a recent press release. Gazaway is, of course, the genre-bending producer and remixer behind critically-acclaimed mash-up albums—are people still calling them "mash-ups?"—such as Yasiin Gaye: The Departure and The Return (Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def & Marvin Gaye,) Fela Soul (Fela Kuti & De La Soul,) B​.​B. & The Underground Kingz: The Trill Is Gone (B.B. King & UGK,) Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to The Pharcyde , and more like-minded projects. It would appear as though Amerigo Gazaway is likely referring to Stevie Wonder 's beloved and world-renown string of seven "classic period" albums released between 197...

Noir Dub by The Drastics The Drastics drummer-producer and founder of Chicago -based Reggae imprint Happy As a Lark , Anthony "Nantee" Abbinanti sat down with fellow Chicagoan Richard Milne from 93XRT for a recent installment of his Local Anesthetic Podcast . Milne asked Abbinanti to define "Dub" and to clarify the difference between Dub and Rub-a-Dub . Anthony Abbinanti readily replied: "So, Dub is... I think you could apply to anything. I mean, I think The Clash dubbed their albums. So, it's just taking the track and adding the delays and the reverbs and sparing it up. Basically, Lee ["Scratch"] Perry called Dub "X-ray Music," which is a term I really like; where you kinda take the track and you see different layers at different times. Rub-a-Dub : the actual origins of it, I couldn't pinpoint exactly right now... but it sort of encapsulates more of a backbeat-style Reggae that was popularized more in the 80's. Gr...

" Leland Jackson [@Ahnnu] creates Footwork and Juke as Cakedog . Devoted to the dancer, DJ, and producer culture, and mentored by fixture Footwork originator R.P. Boo , Champions is a 23-minute digital mixtape album leading into the proper LP release Doggystyle , on Leaving Records later this year," Stones Throw wrote within a recent on-site press release attached to their latest mixtape release on sister label, Leaving Records . For those who may be unfamiliar, much like myself, " Footwork is a genre of related music and street dance that originated in Chicago during the 1980's," which was pioneered by Jackson's own mentor R.P. Boo , and was later "popularized outside Chicago by inclusion in the music video for Dude 'n Nem 's 2007 single "Watch My Feet;"' from what I can understand, I would best appropriate Footwork/Juke to Kanye 's T-Pain -assisted Alvin & The Chipmunks -evocative Graduation smash single, ...

"Just premiered "Somewhere In Paradise" [featuring] @Jeremih & @rkelly on @nbcsnl . Go get it for FREE at chanceraps.com," @chancetherapper exuberantly Tweeted just mere minutes after his hyper-energetic Saturday Night Live debut; reportedly the first performance of its kind for a 100% unsigned independent artist during SNL 's 40-year tenure. "Thanks so much to Chris [Hemsworth] , the entire SNL cast, Lorne Michaels , and Phil Hynes for a great week. Hope to be back soon," Chance continued following Hemsworth's closing credits sign-off. Founder and creator of Chicago -based Hip-Hop publication Fake Shore Drive , Andrew Barber shared a list of "every rapper to play SNL in 40 years," which includes major label-backed heavyweights like Run-D.M.C. Snoop Dogg, Eminem , Beastie Boys, OutKast , Pharrell/N*E*R*D, Nicki Minaj , and Kanye. "From the moment Chance stepped onstage for his first performance on SNL , it was clea...

"It started out as an attempt to write an early Bob Dylan kind of song, but as I wrote it, I heard Tom Waits in my head. It ended up sounding like a cover of Talking Heads covering Waits and Dylan, I think," Ray St. Ray somewhat unsurely wrote in a batch of exclusive emailed pull-quotes sent directly to The Witzard ; although, it's a rather bold, yet befitting description of The Singing Cab Driver 's zany Cabaret -leaning "WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH." "Over the last 40 years, our future was stolen by corporate interests. Now, too many people are on the wrong side of enough. I feel strongly about this. It's what my concept album, FUTUREMAN vs. THE WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH is about," Ray's email passionately continued. I initially heard about the infamous Singing Cab Driver a few months ago through my friend, crate-digger extraordinaire, and Now-Again Records founder, Egon . He spoke of one particularly interesting Madlib -accompanied late nig...

"I used to have tons of songs in my head, but since I couldn't play anything well and I didn't know how to use programs [so] I was never able to make them," Chicago emcee and former Cool Kids affiliate Hollywood Holt writes within his rather compelling Facebook Bio section. Now better known as simply HXLT (pronounced: "Holt" ), the former club-friendly rapper has returned with the lead-off single from his as-yet-untitled G.O.O.D. Music debut; " Holt 's manager told Billboard at the time of his singing that "it's like if Joy Division , The Strokes , and Dr. Dre made an album together."' Judging by "Live to Death," it would appear as though HXLT has somehow already managed to master the whole Psych/Punk Rock -leaning brand of Alt. Hip-Hop that Kanye 's former protégé Kid Cudi has spent the past five or so odd years aimlessly trying to hone and perfect. Although, prior to unleashing "Live to Death"...

Sharp-tongued Los Angeles by-way-of Chicago emcee Open Mike Eagle has been self-described as an underground "Art-Rap" hero; recently having signed a purported three-album deal with Indie Hip-Hop imprint Mello Music Group . Noisey premiered the second single from Eagle's upcoming fourth album, Dark Comedy , which is currently set for a June 10th release, Tuesday afternoon. "Dark Comedy Morning Show" was supposedly the second to last song recorded for the new album... "It took me a long time to write because I kept wanting to sing this Stereolab song on it that was way out of my range," Open Mike Eagle revealed on Twitter. "Dark Comedy Morning Show" was seemingly influenced by Open Mike Eagle 's recent stint with traveling comedian Paul F. Tompkins and additionally features production work/vocal accompaniment from rising multi-instrumentalist Toy Light . Sonically, it's very emotive of 90's Indie Pop , something not t...

Well, I can't say I'm rally all THAT surprised, but it sounds like Chicago 's very own 1980-90's Boom-Bap revivalists The Cool Kids are finally back together... or as Chuck Inglish recently told fellow rapper-producer and apparent super-fan Tyler, The Creator , "Never stopped...It was just a time-out;" contrary to what Sir Michael Rocks (formerly Mikey Rocks ) told AllHipHop back in December 2012, "We'll probably do something else, but as The Cool Kids and as Shark Week , no. Those ideas are done, and we're on something different now." Ahead of their long-rumored second album Shark Week , the loose follow-up to Gone Fishing , Tacklebox, and When Fish Ride Bicycles (2009-11), The Cool Kids simultaneously unleashed 2 new tracks on the unsuspecting Internet Monday afternoon, "Computer School" and "Chop." Chuck Inglish & Mikey Rocks' own Cake Recordings imprint will seemingly self-release their new/shel...

James Blake is a London -based First Wave Dubstep super-producer; one of the genre's originators, before it got all Americanized , club-ready, and alcohol-infused (ie: Skrillex ha). Blake has always kinda seemed like an on-looking Hip-Hop supporter/closet fan... he actually unleashed a series of white label 12" Harmonimix[es] prior to his self-titled debut: Lil' Wayne , Destiny's Child, Snoop Dogg , and handsome hermit D'Angelo. After working with master swordsman RZA on his second album Overgrown , James Blake recently recruited hyper-rhyming Chicago upstart, Chance The Rapper to help remix "Life Round Here." It's supposedly the "first of many songs with @jamesblake ," if Chance The Rapper 's righteous Twitter feed is to be believed; Blake told Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe Tuesday morning that the track was re-recorded post- SXSW and lamented that "[He] never really felt the track was finished; even when it went on the album...

Art Hip-Hop enthusiast and criminally under-rated California -by-way-of- Chicago emcee Open Mike Eagle has recently linked up with Beats, Frames & Life and producer, Alwayz Prolific (Taco Neck) to release "Qualiifiers." A Hellfyre Club member and Busdriver affiliate, Eagle set up a make-shift stage/studio in a 24-hour laundromat and Giovanni Solis just so happened to film it. okayplayer quite appropriately describes Beats, Frames & Life 's video series The Show as "where they take artists they fux with and have them perform in the most random places." It's great because you can genuinely tell that no one's in on the joke; a bunch of people washing and folding their clothes were just treated to an impromptu Open Mike Eagle & Alwayz Prolific mini-show! "Qualifiers" is simply down and dirty Hip-Hop @ it's best, part of which includes ferocious bars like: "Sick days, I got two left / So, I take five, Dave Brubec...

And I'm back from a nice, relaxing weekend getaway to Ocean City, MD : friends, cars, chicken, girls, beer, scooters, sun rays, etc. But it's great to finally be back home in good ol' Jersey ! Upon my re-entry to The Inter-web earlier this evening, I was pleasantly surprised with 3 FRESH Cocaine 80s tracks, which were slowly unveiled over the past 3 days. "This Can't Be a Crime," "Queen to Be," and "Take My Keys" were recently recorded by Chicago mega-producer, No I.D. While Cocaine 80s' choice nom de plume might implies a certain level of excess and debauchery, their collective musical output is far from it... Cocaine 80s is a Chicago -based group of talented behind-the-scenes players, which includes the likes of James Fauntleroy , Kevin Randolph, Rob Kinelski, Steve Wyreman , and Makeba . Since quietly forming roughly 1 year ago, the loose collective has released 2 digital projects, The Pursuit EP and Ghost Lady EP . The att...

On the cover, you have an androgynous masochist on the leash of a feminist sadist who's smoking. The sadist has carved "Death Grips" into her bitch's chest. There is an overly confident quality to the woman smoking and a calmness to the androgynous masochist... We consider ourselves feminists , we fiercely support homosexuality, transparent world leadership, and the idea of embracing yourself as an individual in any shape or form. Acceleration is a mantra, we're not a political band, we are freaks and outsiders. It was important to project that message and energy through the artwork of this album . This is free thinking and eternally open-ended music... [The cover] is like an ambassador to the sound. - Flatlander (Death Grips)